Testimony

“I WISH EVERYDAY WAS SUNDAY MORNING”

The Testimony of Susan Lee Mintz

This is a testimony about love, commitment, hope, and faith. It is the story about a woman who found comfort, peace, stability, and refuse in Christianity and her acceptance of Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. This testimony is written in the third person. The woman telling her story is not the same woman who was living it. Though the woman’s life, her conduct, attitudes, and perceptions are similar, they dwell in a changed spirit and soul. Once the woman was Baptized and accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, the journey would go in another direction and into a new dimension. Therefore, the testimony of Susan Lee Mintz, the born and raised Orthodox Jewish woman from Troy, New York is far different than the Reborn Believing Christian woman who lives in Boca Raton, Florida. Susan is proud to give her testimony to anyone, anywhere, and anytime. *May God continue to bless you Prophetess Cynthia, Pastor Billy, and my wonderful church family at JPPIMC.

Troy , New York 1957

She was a pretty 11 year old girl who loved her Polish/Russian Orthodox Jewish grandparents. But, even at this early age, she didn’t like the way she felt as she watched her father pray in synagogue on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. He prayed with conviction and called himself a religious God loving man, but after services he spoke harshly about people of color and of those who were not Jewish. The young girl did not like what her father represented and knew one day she would not be like him. She didn’t know why her Hebrew school life was a burdensome chore, but she was brought up to believe in God and she did.

In fifth grade, the girl met a cute dark haired brown eyed Jewish boy. She instantly fell in love. They remained best friends throughout grammar school, high school, and always visited with each other when they came home for holidays and college breaks. On a wintry night in 1968, they got drunk, slept together and six weeks later the girl was pregnant. The small city of Troy seemed even smaller because of this terrible situation. Abortion was never an option. He would do the right thing and on January 11, 1969 they were married by a Reformed Jewish Rabbi with their parents in attendance. One week later, during a birthday party for her new husband, the girl had terrible pains and was bleeding profusely. Her husband rushed her to the hospital. That pregnancy and miscarriage would be her first and last. The marriage was consummated and solidified in ways that she would never understand until many years later. It was her commitment under God to love him until death do they part that was to be her legacy and fate.

Her husband became a doctor and their success continued. But, the woman was angry and bitter. She knew that something was terribly wrong with their marriage. One night, during a terrible argument, he confessed to her that he was a homosexual. “Dear God,” she cried out, “what should she do?” Inside her being a voice said, “Honor your commitment to him.” Several years later, in 1981, the woman sat watching the evening news. She heard the commentator talking about a “gay man’s disease” in New York and San Francisco. She ran into the bathroom and vomited. She knelt down and cried out to God what to do. Again, the voice spoke to her and said, “Love this man. He will need you one day more than he has ever needed you before.” Her faith in God became her only strength for in her heart she knew that HIV/AIDS had become the third person for the rest of their married life.

The woman told her husband that she would love him but that she would not continue to have a sexual relationship with him. If he wanted a divorce, it would be his choice. She would stay with him as his best friend, but she would not die for him. Her husband continued his homosexual relationships and on June 19, 1992 became gravely ill with pneumonia. Two years later, on August 17, 1994, after 25 years of devotion to a remarkable man, the woman watched her husband take his last breath. He died in their bed, in her arms, the same way their marriage had begun. From that day forward, she knew that she had completed a mission that only God could have ordained. She had been given an assignment that was to take her to another level of her faith and she was to tell her story to those who would listen.

There had to be more that God wanted her to do. So the woman joined AIDS organizations, volunteered for Hospice, wrote books, exercised, and prayed. She prayed that God would get her through this heartbreaking time. But, the more she did, the worst she felt. The more she tried to do, the less she was accomplishing. She was empty and sad. Still, she had control over her life. She had made her own choices. She was in charge and had the power. She had financial security, friends, and moderate success with her writing and speaking career. How could she have so much yet feel as though she had nothing? How could her life be so right and so wrong at the same time?

It took an act of God to make this woman see the light and to make the necessary changes that would take her through the rest of her life. One day while weight training, she felt severe pain in her neck. Her arms started to go numb. She could not swallow and there was a huge bulge of bone on her shoulders. A cervical 5 vertebrae had collapsed in her neck. She needed immediate surgery or she would be paralyzed. For three months, the woman wore a hard collar while the fusion in her neck healed. She knew that this was also a part of God’s plan for her life. She let go of her control and gave it all over to Him. He would heal her and she would become strong again. But, it would be according to His will and not hers.

During this difficult time, a good friend, a true Christian woman, gave her a book by Pastor Rick Warren entitled “The Purpose Driven Life.” The woman read it for 40 days. At the end of the 40 days, she asked God what was her purpose? What was her mission? Why did her husband die? Again, for the third time in her life, she heard the voice of God say, “take your new life and go forward. You will make changes, you will help people, but now you will do it differently.” The woman didn’t understand what her mission and purpose was, but she knew it went far beyond her present belief in God. It was much more. She continued to read books about Christianity, Jesus Christ, and a renewed fire and energy started to possess her. Everything she knew and that she had done for the past 58 years of her life would be changed. Her new journey to Christ had begun and it gave her the most peace and comfort she had ever known.

The woman continued to read and listen to Pastors and Ministers. She visited many churches and was growing in the glory of her new found faith in Jesus Christ. In the summer of 2005, the woman got baptized in the ocean and formally accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. She took time to find the appropriate church home with Pastors that she could talk to. She wanted to be involved with other Christians but she wanted to stay her path and minister to those with HIV/AIDS. That would always be her ministry. For it was a ministry about love, commitment, hope, and faith.

The woman smiles when she thinks about the blessings bestowed upon her and that her journey continues to get even better. She is free to be whom the Lord wants her to be and she hopes to be a light for others facing their own dark times. The woman knew that through God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit everything in life was about choice. Her choice was to do her life exactly the same way because everything that she was, had been, and would become would now be done through Christ. She says, “Never give up on your dreams but trust in the Lord to light your way. Love people with all their perfectly imperfect imperfections.” Thank you Jesus for all you have done for this wandering Jew who has finally rooted in Jesus People Proclaim International Church in Deerfield Beach. Amen and Amen.